


The Night Begins to Shine

by Swing Set in December (swing_set13)



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Speed Dating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-12 23:45:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7953778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swing_set13/pseuds/Swing%20Set%20in%20December
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the coldflash speed dating au no one asked for</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Night Begins to Shine

**Author's Note:**

> someone just liked this ancient ficlet and i figured it deserved an add-on so i wrote more then posted it on ao3. there's a callback to the flash episode 4 "going rogue" for eddie and marvin gaye's music and also table 4.

Len walks into _Saints and Sinners_ only to be ambushed by his sister before he can get to the bar. The place is crowded, granted Len usually gets to the bar after his night shift so he’s never been here when the bouncer actually gives a crap. Must be the event that Lisa frantically texted at him as an emergency situation to attend.

“There you are!” says Lisa, hooking her left arm between his right one as she guided him to the crowded tables.  “I need to fill tables,” Lisa continues as Len finally sees the banner over the dance floor proclaiming an exclusive speed dating event. 

“Hell no!” says Len as he tries to get out of his sister’s iron grip. 

“This is the only event Mardon let me plan. And I’m not letting Shawna’s karaoke night make more money. You owe me, Len,” Lisa says with big doe eyes. For the life of him, Len’s resolve waves enough for Lisa to kick out a chair from a free table. “Now play nice with the other boys.” 

She slaps a name tag on Len’s chest and pushes him into the empty chair.

“And for god’s sake, smile. You look like an ice cube.”

Before he had time to come up with a witty response, Lisa was already on the other side of the bar conferring with the DJ - Cisco Ramon - a guy Len had caught mooning over Lisa numerous times. 

Len was ready to leave this train-wreck of an evening. Tonight was supposed to be his night off. It wasn’t until Lisa blew a shrill whistle that a stream of men and women started joining the tables around Len by little numbered cards. Lisa waltzed by and shot her brother another withering look when he made a move to get back up. Slumping back down into his chair, Len closed his eyes in frustration.

The chair opposite him scraped across the floor as someone settled into it. Len opened his eyes to a young man with bright green eyes and a hesitant smile.  The best adjective for him would be cute. Damn, Len had a weakness for cute.

“Uh, hi? I’m Barry. Um, Barry Allen,” the man says in a rush, like he took a personal incentive to the speed part of this event. “Was that too fast? I think it was. I’m new at this. Cisco needed an extra body for this. You can just mark me down as a hard pass. I’ll _understand_.”

Len couldn’t help it. He was charmed.

“And why would I do that, Barry?” he drawls. “We’ve only just met.”

Len didn’t think anyone could blush that much but he was seriously wondering how low did Barry Allen’s skin flush and if he’d let Len see. 

So far, Len’s night started looking up.

\---

Barry got ambushed at _Jitters_ before his morning coffee. That’s the only reason he’s standing awkwardly in _Saints and Sinners_ in a pressed button-up and the only pair of decent slacks Iris permits him to wear in public when he goes out with her and Eddie for friends’ night. He thinks he can wallflower this whole night, it totally counts as attending if he made it into the bar. Even though the bouncer scrutinized his driver’s license far too long. 

“Barry!” shouts Cisco over the din of music and frantically waves him over to the DJ booth. “You made it!”

“Yeah about that-”

“Here’s your name tag!” And Cisco is patting down a sticker with BARTholoMEW written in cramped writing with both upper and lower case like whoever wrote it underestimated the space on the tag required. “And table number!”

“Dear God, why?” Barry groans in disbelief. 

“Hey, you promised,” counters Cisco. 

“I promised at 6am before coffee, Cisco. That wouldn’t hold up in court,” says Barry. 

“Hey, I needed the extra bodies. Lisa needs to -”

“ -make more money that Shawna tonight. Cisco, can’t you just ask her out? I mean, this worse than when you bought her gold earrings for Secret Santa.”

“Hey, she loved those earrings. And you owe me for DJ-ing Iris’s wedding. I had to play Marvin Gaye. I have standards, Barry. Standards.”

“Fine, but Bartholomew? Really?”

“Lisa thought it was cute,” replies Cisco with a dreamy smile as Lisa walked up to them, ignoring Barry altogether. “Who knows, maybe you’ll meet the love of your life.”

“Right, like the love of my life will be here,” sighs Barry looking the room over where just about everybody was having a good time. His morose thoughts about his love life were shattered at the sound of a shrill whistle.

“Go get ‘em, Bear!” shouts Cisco. 

Barry mustered up his courage before walking over to table 4 where a guy was already sitting. He’ll try to get this over with in the quickest way possible. Maybe save him some embarrassment on being rejected. Plastering on a hesitant smile, he pulled out the chair and sat down in front of the most handsome man he’d ever laid eyes on. Damn, Barry had a weakness for tall, dark and handsome. And totally out of his league. 

“Uh, hi? I’m Barry. Um, Barry Allen,” He says in a rush, probably too fast. He tends to speed talk when he’s nervous. “Was that too fast? I think it was. I’m new at this. Cisco needed an extra body for this. You can just mark me down as a hard pass. I’ll _understand_.”

“And why would I do that, Barry?” the man drawls with a smirk, he’s got a name tag with Len written in the same blocky letters. “We’ve only just met.”

Barry thinks his brain short circuited because he can’t believe he’s getting hit on. He hopes he’s not blushing. God, that would be embarrassing. Len doesn’t seem to mind.

So far, Barry’s night started looking up.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on my [tumblr](http://swingsetindecember.tumblr.com/).


End file.
